POLITICO Playbook PM: Infrastructure week at last?

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NEW … CHRIS CADELAGO: “Harris hires famed admaker Margolis in boon to her campaign”: “Kamala Harris has hired Jim Margolis, one of the Democratic Party’s most accomplished admakers, as her media adviser, two sources familiar with the move told POLITICO.

“Margolis is a veteran of former President Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012, and served in a key role in Hillary Clinton’s White House bid in 2016. A partner at GMMB, the leading advertising and campaign firm, he spent years as a top adviser to Democratic senators, including former Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.” POLITICO

SNEAK PEEK … WAPO’S @seungminkim: “Big infrastructure party at the White House tomorrow — Dem attendees include Schumer, Durbin, Murray, Stabenow, Wyden (Finance), Carper (EPW), Pelosi, Hoyer, Clyburn, Lujan, Neal (W&M) and DeFazio (T&I), per aides (w/ @mikedebonis)”

THINGS TO WATCH …

-- How much does President DONALD TRUMP talk to Ways and Means Chairman RICHIE NEAL (D-Mass.) about his quest to obtain the president’s tax returns, and to Speaker NANCY PELOSI about the chamber’s investigations of him? This runs the risk of turning into a lecture about nothing approaching infrastructure.

-- PELOSI and Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER make their demands. … The top two Dem leaders penned a letter to TRUMP asking for three things: 1) that the bill be large-scale, 2) that it include “clean energy and resiliency priorities” and 3) that it have “strong Buy America, labor, and women, veteran and minority-owned business protections.” Pelosi and Schumer also want to know how Trump will pay for it. EYES OPEN for whether hiking the gas tax seeps into this. The letter

A FEW QUICK THOUGHTS …

-- HOW WILL the White House handle the clean energy portion of this?

-- THIS EPISODE -- the prospect for an infrastructure bill -- could be the cleanest and truest test of TRUMP’S ability to cut deals in D.C. Generally speaking, many Democrats want a deal. TRUMP, at times, likes the flair that comes along with cutting deals with the other party. Can the president compartmentalize his disdain for the investigations to get a deal?

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG gets Vogued: “Pete! Pete! Pete! Inside the Underdog Campaign Shaking Up the 2020 Race,” by Nathan Heller: “As we pass the remains of the Studebaker factories, I ask him what he’d say to those who argue that yet another white male candidate isn’t what Democrats need in this year of all years. ‘I’m sensitive to that,’ he says, stiffening at the wheel. ‘In the end, I think we just bring whatever identity we have to the table. Mine is of a young, gay, first-generation white veteran mayor.’” Vogue

TOP TALKER … KNOWING LIS SMITH -- “‘I Want Him on Everything’: Meet the Woman Behind the Buttigieg Media Frenzy,” by David Freedlander in POLITICO Magazine: “Smith is a fierce New York City-based Democratic operative who helped engineer the plan to get Buttigieg in front of not just national political reporters, but anybody with camera or a microphone. There may be nobody more central to Mayor Pete’s media success—besides the candidate himself, and arguably his social-media-savvy husband, Chasten Buttigieg—than Smith, who serves as a communications advisor and all-around aide. …

“The speed with which Buttigieg emerged has been astonishing, which happens to be the speed at which Smith works. … ‘You’ve got this hard-nosed New York-style political operative and this friendly Hoosier mayor,’ [campaign manager Mike Schmuhl] said. ‘They have grown to like and trust each other. But it is kind of fascinating to watch.’” POLITICO Magazine

THE POLICY PRIMARY -- NBC’S GARRETT HAAKE in Modesto, Calif.: “Beto O’Rourke releases $5 trillion plan to combat climate crisis”: “O’Rourke’s four-pillar framework, detailed in a campaign memo, combines proposed executive action with legislation he pledges to introduce within his first 100 days in office and outlines for further steps to take in response to climate-related disasters in the future. It amounts to the first major policy rollout for a campaign which critics have targeted for being light on specifics.” NBC

Good Monday afternoon. We had a bad link in this morning’s Playbook for Senate Majority PAC’s new billboard hitting Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.). Here’s the image

WHAT’S ON THE PRESIDENT’S MIND -- @realDonaldTrump at 8:18 a.m.: “The NRA is under siege by Cuomo and the New York State A.G., who are illegally using the State’s legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization, & others. It must get its act together quickly, stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS -- FAST!”

… at 9:23 a.m.: “....People are fleeing New York State because of high taxes and yes, even oppression of sorts. They didn’t even put up a fight against SALT -- could have won. So much litigation. The NRA should leave and fight from the outside of this very difficult to deal with (unfair) State!”

THIS IS RICH: The elimination of the SALT deduction was a centerpiece of the GOP tax plan!

… at 10:32 a.m.: “I’ll never get the support of Dues Crazy union leadership, those people who rip-off their membership with ridiculously high dues, medical and other expenses while being paid a fortune. But the members love Trump. They look at our record economy, tax & reg cuts, military etc. WIN!”

… at 10:42 a.m.: “The Media (Fake News) is pushing Sleepy Joe hard. Funny, I’m only here because of Biden & Obama. They didn’t do the job and now you have Trump, who is getting it done - big time!”

… at 10:55 a.m.: “The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me. Some things never change!”

… at 11:20 a.m.: “The New York Times has apologized for the terrible Anti-Semitic Cartoon, but they haven’t apologized to me for this or all of the Fake and Corrupt news they print on a daily basis. They have reached the lowest level of ‘journalism,’ and certainly a low point in @nytimes history!”

IN SUNDAY’S PLAYBOOK we didn’t run the entirety of Kellyanne Conway’s quote about white nationalism. JAKE TAPPER asked her on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether the president believed white nationalism was a growing threat. Conway said this: “I think there are many growing threats. And that’s one of them. I think there’s anti-Christianity. That’s why the Sri Lankans were gunned down.” Conway said all forms of hate should be condemned. The full interview

THE INVESTIGATIONS … NATASHA BERTRAND: “How Kushner sought advice from a ‘pro-Kremlin’ Russian”: “On March 14, 2016, according to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, Kushner attended a lunch in Manhattan in honor of Henry Kissinger. Also in attendance was a tall, bearded Russian émigré with a booming voice. His name was Dmitri Simes, and for nearly 20 years he had been president and CEO of the Center for the National Interest, a Washington foreign policy think tank. …

“The Simes-Kushner relationship was outlined in detail by Mueller’s report, which mentions Simes over 100 times. … To Simes’ allies the report was, as Trump might say, a total exoneration that should end the speculation over his Simes background and motivations … Even so, former U.S. officials and people who know Simes say Mueller’s report is a fresh reminder that he is at best a mysterious—and at worst alarming—player in Washington’s foreign policy community.” POLITICO

ARTHUR ALLEN: “Worst measles outbreak in 25 years as Alex Azar praises Trump vaccine comments”

POLL DU JOUR -- “Populist economic frustration threatens Trump’s strongest reelection issue,” by WaPo’s Seung Min Kim and Scott Clement: “About 8 in 10 Democrats and more than 6 in 10 independents say the country’s economic system gives an advantage to those already in power, while nearly a third of Republicans share that view. The survey finds broad dissatisfaction with the country’s economic and political systems. …

“Of four issues that were at the core of Trump’s first presidential campaign — the economy, illegal immigration, health care and trade — only the economy appears to be a clear asset for the president.” WaPo … The poll

2020 WATCH -- MAGGIE SEVERNS: “Top Dem strategists launch secret-money group to rebrand party”: “A group of Democratic operatives are launching a $60 million political group with plans to reclaim values-laden terms like ‘freedom’ and ‘opportunity’ for their party ahead of the 2020 election.

“The nonprofit organization, called Future Majority, plans to provide strategic advice to other Democratic groups, as well as branding efforts, communications and a ‘war room’ that will debunk fake news and counter conservative social media. … Much of Future Majority’s work will target Midwestern states that have been trending more Republican.” POLITICO

-- “Some 2020 Democrats work with GOP more than you think,” by AP’s Elana Schor

YA CAN’T MAKE THIS UP … “There’s a new alleged Russian spy. It’s a beluga whale,” by WaPo’s Rick Noack: “When Norwegian fishermen spotted a beluga whale last week, there was nothing that immediately indicated a national security threat. But when the whale defied normal behavior and continued to harass their boats, the fishermen spotted a strange harness, wrapped around the whale’s body.

“‘Equipment of St. Petersburg,’ read an inscription on the harness they later recovered, according to Norwegian media outlets. Researchers say that the harness could have carried weapons or cameras, triggering new speculations about a sea mammal special operations program the Russian navy is believed to have pursued for years. Although the Russian Defense Ministry has previously denied the existence of such a program, the same ministry published an ad in 2016, seeking three male and two female bottlenose dolphins, offering a total of $24,000.” WaPo

QUITE THE MILESTONE -- WAPO: “President Trump has made more than 10,000 false or misleading claims”

SCOTUS WATCH -- “Google Appeal in Oracle Copyright Suit Gets Supreme Court Inquiry,” by Bloomberg’s Susan Decker: “The U.S. Supreme Court asked the Trump administration for its views on Oracle Corp.’s bid to force Alphabet Inc.’s Google to pay at least $8 billion in royalties over programming code in the Android operating system.

“Google is challenging an appeals court ruling that it violated Oracle copyrights when it included some Oracle-owned Java programming code in Android, the dominant operating system in mobile devices.” Bloomberg

AFTERNOON READ -- POLITICO MAGAZINE’S MICHAEL GRUNWALD: “An Unexpected Current That’s Remaking American Politics”: “Electricity has always been the toughest commodity to manage, because unlike water, grain, fuel or steel, it has been largely impossible to store for later use. But that is changing fast, and even though the dramatic growth of [lithium-ion] batteries on the grid will be invisible to most Americans, it has the potential to transform how we produce and consume power, creating more flexible and resilient electricity systems with less waste, lower costs and fewer emissions.” POLITICO Magazine

REMEMBERING BART CHILTON -- BLOOMBERG’S HAILEY WALLER and NICK BAKER: “Chilton, the former [CFTC] official known known for pushing for tighter regulation of swaps and derivatives including curbs on algorithmic and high-frequency trading, as well as for his personal style, has died. He was 58. … He served as a senior adviser to Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader in the Senate, deputy chief of staff to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, and was later a chief of staff at the National Farmers Union.” Bloomberg

SPOTTED AT MILKEN IN LOS ANGELES … FROM MORNING MONEY AT THE MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Pic via Zach Warmbrodt

-- MORE A.M. SPOTTEDS AT MILKEN: American Investment Council’s Drew Maloney … Internet Association’s Michael Beckerman.

TRANSITIONS -- Sami Naim is now director of policy and communications at GrubHub. He previously worked at Lyft and is a Michael Bloomberg alum. … Eli Zupnick is now a managing principal at Precision Strategies. He previously was communications director for Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). … Kaylin Minton is now minority comms director for the House Foreign Affairs Committee and ranking member Mike McCaul (R-Texas). She previously was comms director for the personal office of Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho).

BIRTHWEEK -- Bruce Mehlman turned 5-0 on Saturday. His office is celebrating with a PowerPoint-inspired cake, which he hasn’t seen yet. Pic